Every amateur sports psychologist in Broncos Country wants to know: What’s wrong with wide receiver Demaryius Thomas? His hands have become so unreliable that Peyton Manning might not completely trust D.T. to set the dinner table with fine china, let alone catch a crucial third-down pass.

“I know I ain’t playing at my highest potential right now. And I do get down on myself,” Thomas told me Wednesday as we stood in the shade by the team’s locker room, away from the glare of scrutiny his slow start to this NFL season has attracted.

How did Thomas go from Pro Bowl beast to Mr. Butterfingers?

The speculation runs rampant: Is Thomas hurt? Has an unresolved contract situation distracted him? As the Broncos search for a semblance of a running game in their pass-happy attack, does the game plan make D.T. uncomfortable?

Thomas, humble and honest to a fault, gave me a more direct explanation: He stinks. And he owns it.

According to Thomas, what we’ve seen during games against Indianapolis, Kansas City and Seattle qualifies as the worst slump of his career.

“I had the most drops in these first three games that I’ve had my entire career. I don’t know what it is. I don’t know if I’m thinking too much,” Thomas said.

While Thomas leapt high to beat Seattle cornerback Richard Sherman for a clutch reception on the two-point conversion that allowed Denver to reach overtime against the Seahawks, D.T.’s production through three regular-season games in 2014 reads like a misprint or somebody’s idea of a bad joke: 13 catches, four drops.

Money is not the root of his problems, insists Thomas.

While the Broncos offered him a five-year contract extension during the summer, negotiations failed to reach a mutually acceptable agreement. His current salary pays Thomas $3.27 million during the final year of his rookie deal, which isn’t exactly chump change, but it is far below the $12 million per season that would put him in the same lofty financial neighborhood of elite NFL receivers such as Brandon Marshall and Calvin Johnson.

“Nah, the contract is not part of it. The contract is going to work out by itself. I can’t really do nothing about it,” Thomas said. “Either you play well or you don’t. There’s no dollar signs involved when I’m playing football. All I care about is winning. So when I can’t make the play, the reason I’m upset is I’m not helping the team win.”

While extremely rare is the NFL player devoid of dings or dents in late September, Thomas is not hurt or trying to hide any physical ailment, Broncos officials have assured me.

Although Denver is averaging 25 points per game, a steep decline from the record-setting 37.9-point average of last season, Thomas has not been ignored. He has been targeted with Manning’s passes 27 times through three games, only one fewer time than at this juncture a year ago. So what’s the difference? Thomas has been frustrated in his inability to gain separation and has been betrayed by his hands more often this season.

In a brutal sport where every player takes wicked shots to his body and ego, Thomas is remarkable for two aspects beyond his obvious athletic gifts: 1) He talks without a filter, and 2) D.T. is a remarkably sensitive soul.

This is not your common, garden-variety, NFL diva receiver. Far from it. A dropped pass eats at Thomas. Drop a pass, and Thomas really does believe he has let down Manning, as well as every fan in the cheap seats of Sports Authority Field at Mile High.

So I asked Thomas: Is it wrong to think one reason his slump might be tougher to shake is because he actually cares too much? While his remorse for dropping a pass is heartfelt and refreshing, could it be Thomas needs to do a better job of forgetting his mistakes rather than letting them fester?

“You’re not wrong. When I drop the football, it does hurt me. … The hardest thing for me to do is relax, because when I drop one, I really want to go out there the next time and make a play,” said Thomas. He vows to use time off during the bye week to forget about his football troubles, get out of Denver, enjoy family and hit the reset button on his season.

Want a reason why the state of Colorado will be back in the NCAA Tournament in 2020? The Colorado Buffaloes have received 96.1 percent of their scoring, 96.9 percent of their rebounds and 97.3 percent of their assists from players other than seniors this winter. Up at Colorado State, first-year coach Niko Medved got 79.1 percent of his points, 88.8...